Railway-rail and joint-truss therefor.



J. G. MA$SIL RAILWAY RAIL AND JOINT muss THEREFOR. APPLICATION FILEDAUG. 6, 1907,

908,298. Patented D60. 29, 1908.

rails are susceptible to a force that causes rigidlylield' inaliitlement with each other and strated that these causes maybe brieflysummarized as follows:

umrnnsra'rns Parana enrich.-

JOHN G. MASSIE MQF BELLEVILLII, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF QYE-FOURTH TOARCHIE E. WATSON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-RAIL AND JOINT-TRUSS THEREFOR.

Specification or Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

Application filed August 6, 1907. Serial No. 387,262.

To all whom it may concern: I "Be it known that I, JO N G. MAssrE, a lcitizen of the United States of America, re- 1 siding in Belleville, inthe county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand useful -Improvements in Railway- 1 Rails and Joint-Trusses Therefor,of which i the following is a full, clear, and exact de- 1 scription,reference being had to the accomi panying drawings, forming part of thisspecil cation.

My invention relates to railway rails and splice pieces that constitutetrusses at the joint-s of railway tragks, whereby the rails are lprevented from either'spreading or becommg depressed, due to the forceexerted thereagainst by the trackawheels of railway rolling stocktraveling thereon.

Careful investigation into the causes of railroad wrecks that areoccasioned due to the rails of the railway track becoming unserviceableto maintain the rolling stock in its true course upon the track, hasdemon- First: As a consequence of the track rails becoming crystallizeddue to their being bent downwardly under the powerful blows or impactagainst them by the wheels of railway rolling stock in the assing overlow joints in which the ends of lioth the abutting rails are depressed,or in which the end of one rail is depressed while the end of theadjacent and abutting rail is elevated above the end of the first named.When the joints become such that the rails are as stated, the

crystallization to take place in the metal of which they are composed,due to the force of the blows they receive frornfthe rolling stockwheels, and they soon become broken with the obvious consequence.

Second: The depression of the joints results in an uneven or wave-liketread surface for the rolling stock wheels, which renders the travel ofthe rolling stock uncertain and is moreover, the occasion for greatinjury to the rolling stock. 4

Third: The railway rails being insecurely and insufficiently held inplace "are liable to turn1 upon their supports with the obvious rcsu t.

improvement in railway rails and the object in view of overcoming thecauses of wrecks pointed out in the foregoing. Figure l. is aperspective view of portions of two abutting railway rails and my trussconnecting them. Fig. II is a View partly in side elevation and partlyin longitudinal sec tion of the parts shown in Fig. I. is an enlargedcross'section taken on line III-III, Mg. II. Fig. IV is an enlargedcross section taken on, line IV--IV, II.

In the accompanying drawings, A esignates a plurality of railway trackties on which may be laidmy rails and trusses, in conformity with theusual practice of laying railway rails.

Each railway rail constructed in accordancewith my invention, comprisesa flanged base 1, a vertical web 2, and a head 3. At

the bottom of the head of the rail and at each inafter appear.

The truss or splice piece comprises a base 5 that is adapted to occupy aposition beneath the bases of two abutting railway rails that are to bejoined by the truss, two inwardly extending portions 6 that overlap thetops of the flanges of the bases of the rails, and vertical portions 7which embrace the webs of the rails. The vertical portions of the trussare shaped at their upper edges to conform to the shapes of the groovesor seats 4 at the bottoms of the heads of the rails, as seen-in Figs.III and IV, and when the truss is applied to the rails the upper edgesof the vertical portions 7 become interlocked in or braces thc'abuttingends of the'railway rails -against downward or lateral movements, andthat consequently there is no opportunity for the depression of therails at either ends. To rovide for the attachment of the truss and tie'raiis to the'railway ties, the bottom of the truss is provided ateach end with an extension 5 which is notched as seen in Figs. I and IVand the base flanges of trusses therefor is designed especially witheach rail arenotchcd at points to correspond Fig. III

which constitutes a socket to receive a part of the truss or splicepiece, as Wlll heretions 6 are reached, at which point the base. of therail section is'gluided under the said with the notches in theextensions, thereby permitting the application of spikes X to the partsand which, upon being driven into the ties, serve to maintain the trussand rails in their proper positions in'order that neither may shiftrelative tothe other and also preventing spreading of the rails, orturning thereof, whenconfined in the truss.

In assembling the parts for connecting two rail sections together, thetruss or splice piece may be placed in position on the cross ties of thetrack and pinned in place by en-' tering the spikes in the notches oftheend extensions and partially driving the spikes intothe ties. One railsection is then insertedlongitudinally into the truss until the middleof the latter is reached and then the other rail section is inserteduntil it meets the section first inserted. After this is done, thespikes are driven home until the head's thereof bear on the bases of therail sections. It will be observed that the ends of the portions-6 and 7are inclined inwardly and upwardly from the end extensions of the baseportion of the truss. This is advantageous as it enables the extremitiesof the rail sections to be niore readily inserted than if the saidportions were cut ofl. in a transverse plane. In initially placing theends ofthe rail sections in the truss, the end of each section is firstplaced on top of the end extension'5 and slid inwardly-while resting onthe said extension until the ends of the porportions. When in isposition, the section can be fully inserted without further care beingtaken to guide its movement, as the web of the section will pass freelybetween the portions 7 and the tongues of the said portions will freelyenter the grooves in the head of the rail section, since the base of thelatter has been already engaged under the ortions 6 that serve to holdthe section straight during the inward sliding movement thereof:

Claim:

In a rail joint, the combination of a pair of rail sections eachcomprising a base, a web, and a head; a truss or splice piece comprisinga flat base plate of such'length as to rest upon several ties and onwhich the bases of'the said sections bear, inwardly inclined flangesconnected with the out edges of base plate and overlapping the top ofthe section bases, verticallyextending parallel flanges connected withand rising from the inner edges of the inclined flanges for engagingoppositesides of the webs of the rail sections, said flanges extendinglongitudinally of the splice piece and extensions at the ends of thebase late integrally connected therewith and flus 1 with the latter,said extensions being of greater width than the bases of the railsections and having spikereceiving notches at opposite sides, theoppositeends of each vertical flange being inclined inwardly andupwardly toward each other from the innerends of the said extensions;and spikes engaging in the notches of the said extensions and arrangedwith their heads bearing on the bases of the rail sections.

JOHN G. MASSIE.

In the presence of- JAS. H. HARMER, FRED H. KRUGER.

